The Hollow
by TheDistorted
Summary: Uncovering the truth was never part of their job description, but sometimes one has to move beyond contractual boundaries. Rating may change.
1. Chapter 1

He still wakes up at six every morning, his body having internalized the seemingly never-ending rhythm of fighting and ceasefire, of adrenaline-rushed daytime and numb, dreamless nights. He sits in the dark of his camper and relishes in the possibility of doing nothing at all without having to fear catching a bullet for it. There is, he decides as he slowly gets up, nothing quite like the absolute silence of a morning in the outback. The Sniper vaguely thinks of early morning hours, almost night, spent listening to the mindless rants and bickering of former colleagues. It's only been three months and already all of it feels a lifetime away, like some fever-induced hallucination experienced in that odd, frightening realm somewhere between sleep and wakefulness. But memories are the path to that ever-looming threat of being discovered, and so he shrugs all of it off as he steps outside, into the rising sun, leaving the darkness and the suffocating worry in the camper behind him.

Fetching supplies in the small store a few miles north does not sound like a particularly daring operation, especially not for someone who has worked as a mercenary, but he can't help but turn his head every few steps as soon as he leaves the van. There isn't anybody around, of course not, there never is, but the last few days of his time with RED have taught him that a healthy dose of paranoia really can't do any harm. There's nobody behind the counter, but that alone isn't enough to raise suspicion. Checking for his hidden knife, he carefully moves through the shelves to collect everything he needs for another three weeks out there where nobody knows him, where nobody can find him. He is calculating how many packs of cigarettes he'll be needing when he hears the throttling noise of a motor being stopped. Shit. Okay. No reason to panic. Find out who it is, what they want, if they're dangerous. Very quietly, he lowers the basket and moves behind the last aisle, where he is barely visible against the stark shadows. He can hear voices, two at least, but it is impossible to tell what they are saying. Probably both men. Relieved that he has parked his camper out of sight of the store, he slowly shuffles towards the backdoor, opening it just enough to slide through to the other side. Then he waits. Another minute and somebody enters the store. "Hello?" There is a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he first walks, then starts to run towards the camper, not needing any additional information as to who that person is that just so happens to be here, at the end of the world.

Shit. Shitshitshit. There is no real point in wondering how on earth anybody could manage to find him here, but he can't help but to ponder what mistake has led them on his way. Faintly realizing that he probably never really stood a chance against RED, who can be very, very determined, he anxiously watches the rear mirror and urges the car to go faster, just a little faster oh damn. It takes him four hours at full speed to finally reach his destination, a town with a small airport where hopefully he'll be able to find someone to fly him to Sydney, or Melbourne, just somewhere with an international airport. A glance at his watch tells him that the pilots have probably already left. He planned all of this the day he got there, found out where to go, who to turn to, when to do it, so he knows that the flight to Melbourne has taken off half an hour ago and the next one won't go until tomorrow. Aimlessly driving around town, he debates his next step, postponing the obvious decision of taking a room for as long as he can. There is no way, he reasons as he parks the car in front of a small motel, that they could have figured out where he has gone. He hasn't left any traces, no hints as to what his escape plans might be.

There is an amiable old woman behind the counter whose utter harmlessness soothes him a little bit. The room is cheap and conveniently positioned directly opposite the parking. It wouldn't take him much more than twenty seconds to rush out of the room, jump down the stairs and be at the car. He turns the key and knows what a mistake he has made almost instantly.

"Do come in, bushman", the voice from the store says.

In the end, he doesn't put up a fight, nor does he attempt to flee. There doesn't seem to be much of a point in it, escaping now would only mean prolonged weeks of panic before they'd catch up with him again. He simply does as he is told, enters the room as if completely unfazed by the appearance of his former colleagues, stashes his bag under the desk and puts his jacket over the chair before finally acknowledging the other men's presence. "So", he begins for lack of a more sophisticated way of leading this type of conversation, "you here to kill me or what?"

"Most certainly not", the man leaning against the wardrobe says with a thin smile, absent-mindedly flattening his suit as he does so. "You have violated your contract, quite profoundly so, in fact. I am here to ensure that the company's investment does not go lost.

"Investment? Come on, this can't possibly be about money, I've figured that much."

The steely glare he receives has a pleading edge to it, asking him to stop inquiring and just accept his fate unquestioningly.

"Aren't you a perceptive one. Listen: You and I both know fully well that I am not going to explain to you the motives of the company's management, for once because they largely remain unbeknown to me. You yet have to fulfil your contract. Come with me, do what you agreed to do and feel free to leave afterwards."

The Sniper limits himself to a doubtful arch of the eyebrow and turns to the other man who has remained absolutely silent so far, watching the conversation unfold with his typical patient observance. "What are you doing here? He convinced you to go back?"

"Nice to see you again", the engineer remarks drily and exhales loudly. "Look, son. We all knew it was just a matter of time, didn't we. We saw what they're capable of. It's really no great surprise they didn't just choose to let us go."

"What about the others?"

"Oh, you were rather difficult to track down in comparison, actually. The only ones left are the doctor and his big friend, and they shouldn't be hard to find at all. Besides, they are nowhere nearly as paranoid as you are and will quite likely agree to come back as long as the terms of their contract remain unaltered, which, incidentally, they will."

"Where will we be stationed? I mean, where are the others?"

That annoying, knowing smile pisses him off just as much as it used to and brings a whole number of memories back to mind, of oddly calm months at the base spent together with that weird assembly of freaks who for some time felt just like the team they were supposed to be.

"Just back where they came from."

Ultimately, he does exactly what he promised himself he wouldn't do, simply gives in and accepts the thought of returning to the company that is so inexplicably powerful, whose motives for hiring them stay entirely unclear. The spy excuses himself shortly afterwards to organize their departure the next day, so the other two men remain at the hotel, far too tense and confused to fall asleep, too worried to talk.

Sniper spends the next few days in equal parts of quiet amazement and discomfort at the utter lack of obstacles they encounter. Spy leads them through international airports and customs without so much as the bat of an eyelid, not once stopping to determine the best strategy, seemingly avoiding distrust and warrants through sheer determination and suave appearance. In Sydney, Sniper is handed a duffel bag with all the things he left behind in the small storage shack where he had kept his personal properties. He doesn't bother to ask how they managed to find it. The engineer avoids all attempts at forging a conversation about the possible motivation of their employer, uncharacteristically and unsettlingly so, and Sniper increasingly finds himself looking forward to being reunited with the team, to having an admittedly small number of possible conversation partners to choose from.

On the flight from Australia to the US, Sniper is seated next to Spy in First Class while the engineer is banished to Second Class (supposedly for reasons of stealth, but, Sniper suspects, probably to avoid his continuous, silent reproachfulness). As the plane noisily takes off the ground, the familiar Australian soil quickly vanishing form his sight, he can't help but to wonder if he'll ever manage to return.

"Already missing the motherland, mh?" , Spy says with a smug smile on his face when he doesn't immediately turn away from the window.

Sniper tells him to lay off and briefly thinks about telling him about the numerous and varied ways in which he considers him to be the most sorry example of a human being he has ever had the misfortune to encounter, but decides against it in the light of the months to come in which they will be expected to cooperate. In addition, hell, Spy works for RED, really works for them, not like all the others do, on grounds of a weird and illegal contract, but clearly on a far more demanding basis. He senses that the only person who could possibly provide any information on the company and on what they have gotten themselves into is sitting right next to him, and as painful as it's going to be, he plans to try and find out as much as he can.

Two hours into the flight and he decides to just go for it.

"So, are you ever going to explain to us what this is all about?"

"I told you before, you are to fulfil your contract."

"That's not what I mean, you bloody well know that. Come on. What was going on at the base? That was…you can't expect us to pretend nothing ever happened."

The other man's expression remains perfectly blank, a neutral face to convey neutral information.

"There were technical difficulties. It took the company a few days to fix them, as you all would have seen if you had just stayed as I told you to."

"Technical…? Seriously. I need to know this."

He stares at his neighbour until the spy deigns to look at him.

"I can't tell you more than this." He readjusts his suit and goes back to looking straight ahead. "I am sorry", he adds, quietly and with a touch of proper intonation.

Sniper feels oddly disappointed. He spends the rest of the flight berating himself for expecting anything at all to arise from a conversation with the spy and turning the facts over in his head, over and over, trying to make sense from what so clearly has a hidden truth kept from him and his colleagues.

Once having arrived in the US, they continue their journey by car. Hour after hour, dry and sullen landscape rushes past as they move further away from the coast, into the middle of nowhere, the dry, dusty austerity of the desert. Sniper manages to get the engineer to talk, and soon the two of them chatter away about whatever they can think of, with the spy stoically enduring what he certainly considers to be pointless and unsophisticated banter.

At some point, Sniper remembers a question he wanted to ask ever since that unfortunate encounter in the hotel room back home.

"Why were you both looking for me, anyway? I mean, I know Spy does it for RED, but I thought you were, you know, just a regular employee, Truckie."

"It was more convenient that way", Spy says, interrupting the engineer immediately.

"More convenient?", Sniper repeats incredulously, steering wildly to avoid approaching traffic as he remembers he's actually driving on the wrong side of the road. "How are Texas and Australia conveniently connected?"

"I wasn't in Texas", the engineer says from the backseat. "Couldn't risk endangering my family, so I figured I'd travel for a while to see if anyone from RED tries to contact me, or my relatives, before I return home. I was just about to leave for the States when Spy here caught up with me in Melbourne."

"No use in accompanying the two of you separately back to your workplace when I could just as well save the company the money for the superfluous travelling expenses and search for you first", Spy explains with a slightly condescending smile.

"Well, aren't you just the perfect employee."

"It seems to me I live up to your mantra of professionalism a lot more than you actually do, my dear."

Sniper scoffs, racking his brain for a witty reply as he seemingly returns his attention to the road ahead, but his train of thought is interrupted by the engineer.

"You didn't seem very professional back when all that BLU fiasco happened, you know. Didn't exactly give off the impression of someone who knows what to do."

Sniper takes a cautious look at the engineer in the back mirror. He seems perfectly at ease, his posture entirely relaxed, but Sniper is positive he's not the only one who made out a certain questioning tone to the Texan's reprimand. The spy actually feels compelled to turn around, scowling ever so slightly before sighing lightly.

"Maybe that was because I didn't, in fact, know exactly what to do. It's not like I had encountered such a situation before, but what I did know for certain was that the company has no rule that says "In the event of unforeseen deaths, you are all free to go. Consider yourselves free for hire!""

The engineer does not offer any evident reaction to his co-worker's slightly raised voice, eyes steadily fixed to a point outside the window, a few meters of the ground.

"So you saved the company some money, huh?", he non-sequiturs.

"I should hope so", the spy answers, evidently suspicious of this sudden return to a safer topic.

"Y'know what could have saved even more money? Simply hiring new people. It's not like we all possess unique talents, I'm sure RED could have found equally able workers to replace us."

"Hey, thanks, mate", Sniper interjects in the hope of lightening the atmosphere. All paths of their conversations lead to the same ultimate goal of coaxing the spy to talk, but he has so far – unsurprisingly so – proven to be quite immune to their admittedly clumsy attempts at gathering information.

"Oh, so this is all part of a conspiracy targeted at you, I suppose? A direct result of some ominous, unique trait you possess? Certainly I have been sent out to retrieve you and your exceptional capabilities, this couldn't possibly be related to your utterly unacceptable behaviour and the fact that you have been paid a substantial amount to guarantee what little trustworthiness you have to offer? I hate to be the one to break this to you, but this is how corporate life works. You don't get paid for nothing."

The spy's ridiculing tone of voice sounds almost believable, but even his exceptional histrionic capabilities are fairly unconvincing and transparent in the light of the gross incongruity of the situation. At least that is how Sniper feels and one brief glance at the engineer's face tells him he's not the only one. However justified their suspicion may be, though, there is nothing much they can do to clarify the events, at least for now. He highly doubts it, but Sniper tells himself that one of the other team members might have observed something else, or found out something about their employers during their short period of absence. Surely nothing is to be expected from the Scout, who clearly suffers from some kind of untreated attention deficit syndrome, or the perpetually drunk Scotsman, but maybe the Medic…

The car falls silent yet again. As they speed into the gradually darkening desert, Sniper finds himself looking forward to their arrival, as weird and misplaced a notion that may be. The loneliness and near-stupor of life in the outback feels nothing like the rush of the battle, like the bizarrely pleasant team dynamic they had developed. They will have to find out just what it is they are doing, who they are working for, but despite everything, Sniper feels vaguely optimistic even as the sun vanishes completely and the night obscures the bumpy road that lies ahead.

* * *

><p>My first venture into the what little of a TF2 fandom there is. Before somebody leaves a review saying "I don't understand what's going on" – yeah. The background will be revealed in the next chapter.<p>

I'm not sure if I should include some kind of pairing in this, any suggestions?

Feedback of any kind is much appreciated. Also, if you spot any particularly nasty mistakes, let me know. English is not my native language, so I'm not completely sure about the correctness of some phrases.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you all for the feedback, it makes me pathetically happy (especially if it's as useful as what you guys wrote).

This chapter is maybe a little heavy with dialogue, but I suppose it will fit in rather nicely with the overall pace of the story, even if for now it may seem like a slowdown.

The next update is going to take me a little longer, since I'll go to Berlin this week where I won't be able to write anything much. I seriously enjoy writing this story right now, so I guess the next chapter will be up a few days after I come back.

* * *

><p>When they arrive, Sniper jerks his head up, the sudden movement making the world spin before his sleep-ridden eyes. The Spy, who insisted on being handed the keys upon witnessing the exhausted Sniper's driving style, stalls the engine and gives his neighbor a pointed look. "Welcome home."<p>

The Engineer groans lowly and hoists himself into a somewhat vertical position. His voice sounds strained and throaty. "Where are we?"

"At the base", Spy replies with an annoyed huff and opens the driver door. "Come on now." The night is almost over, an edge of sunlight creeps across the silent buildings in front of them. Sniper had expected to be taken to a different location, what with the old base lying somewhere on the far side of the country, but the dark outlines in front of them look extremely familiar, so he must have been mistaken. He leaves the car as well and steps around it to stand next to the Spy. "You should take all your belongings with you", the smaller man says quietly.

Sniper shrugs wordlessly and does as he is told. He tosses the Engineer what little the Texan brought along in terms of baggage and grabs his own duffel bag out of the trunk. The Spy has already gone ahead and they have to hurry to catch up with him. "You didn't lock the car", the Engineer shouts when they are within hearing range. The Spy turns around briefly without slowing down and gives the two of them his best condescending glare. "And just who do you expect to steal it, hm?" The Southerner shakes his head and mutters a curse under his breath, exchanges an exasperated look with the Sniper and settles into a more relaxed tempo.

The base looks almost inviting to the Sniper, who is tired and confused and who yearns for some time for himself after these last days under the constantly watchful eyes of his colleague. The muted sounds of agitated voices growing louder welcome them as they finally approach the well-known sight of the entrance to what used to be both their workplace and home. Sniper recognizes the voices of the Scout and the Medic mere seconds before the heavy metal door is ripped open.

"Aw man, they've gotten you, too? Well, shit. I thought at least one of us was smarter than that." The Scout attempts to greet them with his trademark grin, but somehow it transforms into a slightly desperate expression, as if the words he just shouted so carelessly were really an honest expression of his fears. The Medic pushes past the smaller boy and nods curtly, apparently on his way to the supplies, but the Spy stops him. "What are you doing here?" He can't keep his surprise from seeping into his voice.

The Medic seems even more reserved than he used to, if that is even humanly possible. "I have been asked to return, just as the three of you, I assume." Sniper snorts and Medic turns to him with a raised eyebrow. "No?"

"Me and Truckie, yes. Spy over here, not so much."

The Spy ignores the Sniper completely and approaches the Doctor slowly, almost threateningly. "Who brought you here?"

The Medic, who was about to continue his way, turns around and takes his glasses off in what is probably a gesture of mild consternation. "A RED employee. As is the habit of this company, I wasn't told anything more than that."

"I was supposed to fetch you."

The German laughs incredulously, but his eyes grow colder as he does so. "Well, I am awfully sorry to disappoint you in that regard. But I'll have plenty of time to make up for that now, won't I. Perhaps you should get in touch with your higher-ups." He stops briefly, perhaps to say something more, but he catches his breath and whips around abruptly, hurries towards the supply wing without another word.

"He's been like this ever since he got here", the Scout provides helpfully and moves to the side so they can enter the building. There seems to be no need for any kind of actual welcoming, even though they haven't seen each other in almost three months. The Scout accompanies the small group into the former community kitchen, then leaves with a small wave, presumably for training. Sniper waits for a few more moments, feeling simultaneously at ease and extremely agitated, but the Spy does not so much as acknowledge their presence. The fearful visions that Sniper would occasionally harbor of this day had a decidedly more dramatic feel to them. "It's been a long day, gentlemen. We should probably all just head to bed." Truer words, it seems to the Sniper, have rarely left the Frenchman's mouth.

He had never really made himself at home in the small chamber in which he used to sleep, so the bleak walls of his room look comfortably familiar rather than uninviting. Sniper sits down on the cot and briefly contemplates the idea of sleeping solidly for eight hours, but the longer he takes to calm down, the more awake he feels. His inner clock functions flawlessly even under the effect of almost a week of travelling, which is why his body apparently refuses to go to sleep in the early morning. Since the team isn't even complete, no fighting should take place (and against whom, at any rate? This is certainly one of the things that the Spy, or anyone from RED for that matter, is going to have to explain at some point.), but Sniper nevertheless decides to get up and see what is going on outside. He doesn't encounter anyone in the long, empty hallway, but hustled noises emerge from the kitchen.

"Mornin'", he mutters, astounded at how worn off his voice reverberates in his ears. It will take some time to get rid of that incredible sense of déjà-vu that he has been experiencing ever since that night in the motel. The scene in front of him looks and sounds so awfully much like the countless, indistinguishable mornings of his regular time with the company that it almost causes a kind of yearning for these seemingly easier days. The Scout has returned to the kitchen, balancing on the back legs of his chair, drinking a can of _something_ for breakfast, while the Demoman raises his head from the table to give the Sniper a friendly nod. They had apparently been expecting their arrival, given the utter lack of interest the others display.

Sniper moves over to the kitchen counter and opens the cabinet, half-expecting, half-fearing to find his old coffee mug inside. It sits among the rest of the dishes like it had been waiting for him to return, ready to move on and forgive him for his careless departure. "So, uh", he clears his voice loudly, "since when have you been here?"

The Scout lifts his feet off the table and lets the front legs of his stool crash to the ground. "Hell, I don't know. Two, maybe three weeks? I was the first one. Next came Solly, and I can tell you it was _hell_ with only him around."

"Spy dropped me off about a week later", the Demoman adds, drawing invisible patterns onto the wallboard plate of their dining table. "And Medic arrived two days ago."

"Where is he, anyway?" The French accent is enough to make them all cringe ever so slightly as the Spy enters the kitchen in rapid, upset steps. After last week, which the Spy necessarily spent without his mask, it is somewhat unsettling to once more start talking to the featureless cloth that currently covers his head. The sharp eyes, now angrily scanning the small group in the kitchen, are very clearly not the ones that Spy was, for lack of a better word, using during their journey. "And why is the Heavy here, too? I mean, since when?"

Scout and Demoman exchange a brief glance. "Jesus, can you stop being such a prick? Why can't you just be happy that you don't have to travel to fucking Russia? They sent him a letter. Don't know what it said, but it was enough to get him back." The Scout sets his can down on the table and rises from the seat. "How about you just talk to _him _if it's so important to you."

The Spy doesn't pay any further attention to the younger man's provoking tone of voice and exits the room as abruptly as he entered it. The Scout picks up the can and throws it against the wall with full force. "Fuck! Man, I should have killed him when I had the chance."

Sniper carefully sips from the coffee he found in one of the teapots. It is bitter enough to make his stomach clench, but he has still tasted worse things than that. He sends the boy a questioning look and Scout, for a surprising change, takes up on it.

"When he found me, man! I was looking for some of my friends over in Boston and bam, there he was, in the middle of the street. Didn't even recognize him at first, just noticed that goddamn suit. Damn. I mean, I tried to punch him, but…you know."

"What?" The Demoman, despite his absent-minded posture, has been paying attention.

The Scout shifts uncomfortably, evidently struggling with something in his mind. "Well, I…there is some kind of reason why you have returned, right? It's not like he drugged you and dragged you all the way over here." He takes an audibly restrained breath. "They would have killed my family. I wasn't so stupid to just go and visit them, I had figured that much, but hell, obviously they still know where they live. What an asshole. So yeah, that's why I couldn't just kill him. That's why I'm back." He turns to the Sniper, who has managed to down his coffee in one determined movement. "What about you?"

Sniper is, in fact, still not entirely sure what motivated him to give in that easily. Clearly, some rational considerations played a role, first and foremost the realization that if they found him once, they'll find him again, but it is true that the thought of actually offering resistance didn't really cross his mind. "RED doesn't exactly take no for an answer, huh?" This non-committal half-answer is enough for the Scout, who makes a sympathetic sound and shrugs. "Guys, I'm out. Gonna go check out the other base, as long as there's nobody there." There is a small moment of silence after the boy has left.

"The BLU base is empty?" Sniper isn't really surprised, but it nevertheless feels adequate to ask.

"Yes, obviously. I have no idea who…nobody does, I guess. Except for maybe Spy." The Demoman gives off a decidedly more sober impression than he used to, but the moment doesn't seem exactly right to point out this particular observation.

* * *

><p><em>In retrospect, the first unusual event took place quite a while before what they would later refer to as the BLU fiasco, a term coined by the Engineer in a baffled moment of incredulity. Ceasefire had been declared a few hours before, but Sniper hadn't felt like returning to the base just yet. The only other ones outside were <em>_the Soldier, who was patrolling the base on his own after his patrol-plan had repeatedly been ignored by those who were assigned for duty, and the Scout, who had some surplus energy left to run around more or less aimlessly. None of them was paying attention to anything much – ceasefire, after all. _

_They were therefore all c__aught by surprise when the BLU Scout turned up practically out of nowhere, suddenly enough to make them initially suspect their own spy, but he had his hands raised in what he probably hoped to be a harmless gesture. Sniper could barely make out the BLU's voice. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot, man. I got no weapon."_

_Sniper's team members had both raised their guns as quickly as he had, the Soldier out of shooting range but rapidly approaching, the Scout in his typical fight stance. Sniper could see through the scope of his rifle how hounded the BLU's expression seemed, how insistent his gestures, but before he could even shout anything, the Soldier had reached the Scout duo and placed a well-aimed shot. Sniper climbed down from his vantage point to the sound of the reprimanding screams of the Soldier, who was lecturing the Scout on the finer details of "shoot first, ask questions later". _

"_I have no idea", said the Scout later when Sniper approached him about the incident. "All he said was that his team had sent him to talk to us about…I don't even know. These BLU guys are such creeps." _

_There were no further attempts at communication outside of battle. _

* * *

><p>Sniper returns to his room and attempts to unpack his bag, but it only takes a few moments to arrange what few things he possesses. It takes him longer than it should have to realize that his weapons are missing, that he is, in fact, completely unarmed, his old rifle hidden in the Australian desert.<p>

Grateful to have some kind of task at hand, even one as undemanding as retrieving a new weapon from the supplies, he leaves the room, not bothering to close the door behind him. The unusual tranquility of the hallways is starting to bother him. The Soldier has to be around here somewhere, but he is nowhere to be heard. The only other opened door is that of the Pyro's room, but there is no sign of him having arrived yet. Sniper descends the narrow staircase, the scenery to many a desperate fight, absent-mindedly noticing that apparently somebody used the time to renovate the building a little. All bullet holes have been removed, as have the other fissures in the wall paint that had come to trigger something close to an affectionate reaction in him. He stops briefly to let his left hand run across the spot where the BLU spy's knife once missed his head by a few inches, giving him the opportunity to strike back with his kukri. That poor bastard.

At the end of the stairway, a well-known looming figure blocks the path. "Hey there, big guy", Sniper says to the back of the Heavy's head. The Russian looks around slowly, a broad smile spreading on his face as he does so.

"Sniper! Is great to see you again."

"Huh", Sniper exhales loudly, "can't say I'm thrilled to be here. But nice to see you again, too." Heavy doesn't move on, so they remain standing awkwardly in front of the exit. "Have you talked to Spy? I think he's looking for you", Sniper adds after a few seconds. The only answer he is granted is a low, dangerous rumble and a somber nod. For a moment, it looks like the Heavy is about to say something, but ultimately he just shakes his head like a troubled animal and walks away. "Right", Sniper says to no-one in particular and opens the door.

The sun has risen to that unpleasant spot where it blinds from almost any perspective. Sniper allows his feet to run on autopilot, takes in the sight of the old stance he used to nest in like an oversized bird of prey. The contents of the supply wing seem to have been spread all over the broad open space in front of it, weapons carelessly stashed aside. The Engineer obviously hasn't been able to find sleep, either. Together with the Medic, he is examining a massive apparatus that is monolithic in its appearance, surrounded by a diversity of cables and tools.

"What's that?" Sniper, who would be the first to admit that technology is not his strong suit, can't quite keep his mistrust from showing in his voice.

The Medic turns around with a frown, presumably to communicate his disapproval of anyone not capable of recognizing the machine for what it is, but his expression lightens a bit when he meets Sniper's eyes. "We need to reconnect you all to the Respawn system, ourselves as well of course." He sighs dramatically. "I'm going to have to say it was a lot easier getting us out of the system than reassembling it is. Tja. I didn't think I'd have to, you know?"

Engineer throws away his wrench and takes off his helmet. "S'kind of difficult to put something back together when you haven't got the faintest idea how it works in the first place", he says with a small, helpless gesture of the hand. "We'll probably have to ask Spy for help."

"I don't think Spy knows stuff about this sort of thing", Sniper notes, carefully approaching the impressive hulk. He reaches out to touch it, curious to feel the black, unreflecting material of the outer case under his fingers, but Medic slaps his hand away. "Finger weg! No, of course he doesn't. But if anybody has access to the plans, it's probably him."

Sniper makes an empathetic noise, wishing he could be of help. "Honestly, I thought you two knew how Respawn works." Medic just laughs sharply and returns to the task at hand, but Engineer smiles apologetically. "Wish I did, but I really don't. I don't even know what some of these parts are." The Texan shrugs and motions for Sniper to move on, clearly unwilling to upset his German colleague anymore.

Sniper moves over to the weapons, takes his time to examine the status of most of them and finally settles on the exact same fabricate that he used to own. Just when he picks it up, an alarming thought crosses his mind. He hurries back to Engineer and Medic, who have evidently decided to take a break, slumped as they are against the wall. "So, what if it breaks down? I mean, it could, right? Machines do that all the time. If it broke down during battle, you wouldn't be able to repair it, because you don't actually know how it works."

Medic peers up at him over the rim of his glasses and runs a gloved hand through his hair. "You've managed to survive the last weeks without Respawn. That's how most people live."

"Most people don't do our line of work."

"Yeah, well…", Engineer interjects thoughtfully, "I'd always assumed they'd be able to keep that from happening. We never had any problems with it, right? Seems pretty solid, overall. Anyway, it's not like I didn't try to get behind this."

"Pretty solid? It took one grenade to break out of the system. BLU somehow managed to get their SPY out of Respawn without damaging it. Doesn't exactly sound foolproof to me." There is no real point in voicing his concerns to Medic and Engineer, who seem fairly unsettled and discouraged themselves, but having one more worry added to the constantly growing list of concerns to keep him awake at night triggers a notion of fear in Sniper. Accepting one's cluelessness takes more of an effort than he would have expected; it's not exactly a pleasant process to go through. "Well", he says in a doomed attempt to dissolve some of the tension, "gotta get going. Has anyone of you seen Soldier yet, by the way?"

The Medic deigns to accept the sudden change of topic. "Yes, unfortunately. He blames the team for what he apparently considers to be a disgraceful attempt at breaking the contract we all signed. I'm afraid he's saving his rage for some spectacular outburst in the near future."

"Sounds lovely", Sniper mutters and sets back to the main building.

* * *

><p><em>Somehow, none of them was in good shape that day. Battle had been one disastrous line of miscommunication, wrong decisions and bad luck, so that Sniper wasn't really surprised to hear the malicious announcement of BLU's victory. Most RED members had gone through Respawn fast enough to watch the other team's Spy emerge from the BLU base with their own intelligence in his hands, raising it with a small, triumphant wave in the direction of his co-workers. <em>

_Sniper always had a knack for noticing small irregularities and he sensed rather quickly that something was off about what was happening at the other side of the vast areal. Their opponents didn't usually stay out in the open for longer than absolutely necessary, so that it surprised him greatly when the BLUs didn't disappear into their base but, from the look of it, started a discussion. It was impossible to make out any sound over that kind of distance, but the way the team slowly closed in on the BLU Spy suggested that they weren't just chattering away. Sniper briefly looked to the side, where the Engineer had joined him on the rooftop to collect what little was left from his sentries. "Hey, you may want to take a look at this." _

_T__he Texan raised his head with an enquiring look, but Sniper silently gestured for him to observe the strange BLU gathering. The BLU Heavy had put his hand around the Spy's left arm in what appeared to be a painfully tight grip, stabilizing his halt on the other arm when the smaller man began to struggle against his hold. The enemy Scout, who had been nothing but his annoying self ever since that one weird night, rammed his bat in the Spy's stomach. Nobody tried to stop him. "Looks like they got some serious issues", Engineer remarked drily and returned to his previous task. _

_While Sniper's attention had been diverted, RED's own Spy had made his way from Respawn and out in the open, where he was smoking in quiet frustration. __Sniper gave him an encouraging wave, eager to have a fellow spectator for later discussion. "Wanna see what happens to bloody backstabbers like you?" This was enough to rise the Frenchman's attention. With a distressed, this-better-be-good kind of sigh, he strolled up to the edge, where Sniper was still watching the situation unfold with fascination. It was difficult to tell what was going on beneath the thick material of Spy's mask, but what little was visible of his face tightened considerably as soon as he caught sight of his BLU counterpart. _

_In front of the other base, hectic broke out when the BLU Engineer stepped out to join his co-workers, evidently to let them know something they had been waiting for. It all went very fast, rapidly enough to make Sniper doubt his own senses. BLU Heavy and Demoman jointly pulled their Spy, who had started thrashing violently against their grasp, over to a corner behind their base, almost but not quite out of sight of RED's Sniper and Spy, followed by the rest of their team. Sniper wouldn't be able to tell which of them fired the shot. __The Spy's body fell to the ground silently, the other BLUs leaving it behind without so much as another glance back. Sniper waited for it to dissolve, to begin the process of Respawn, but it didn't. After a minute, in which he and his colleague had tensely observed the corpse, he laughed incredulously. "Did they seriously just kill him?" _

_Next to him, Spy made a noise that sounded like anger but which might also have been fear. __"It's probably nothing, a small mistake. Keep it to yourself for now." _

_Sniper would have liked to ask why he should not tell the rest of the team __what had just happened when it was nothing but a minor malfunctioning of the BLU's technology – surely there was some benefit to gain from such knowledge – but Spy had already started to retreat inside the base, his movements uncharacteristically rushed and ungraceful. _

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><p>Yup. So, turns out I'm going to have to split up back story and plot progression a LOT more than I had originally anticipated – there just seems to be so much of it. I guess including a bit of each in several chapters is better than to cram all background into one or two huge parts, don't you think?<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

YOUR REVIEWS YOU GUYS I appreciate them.

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><p>Nothing much happens during Sniper's first three days back at the base. There are few things to do for those team members without technical knowledge, amongst whom Sniper stands as a shining example, so that they move around idly for the most part. He strolls around the abandoned facilities for hours, vaguely reminiscing past half-glories. Every now and then, he runs into one of the other guys, most often the Scout, who has taken to training even more excessively than he used to and is therefore always on the run, never available for any proper conversation. Once he is almost sure he just caught a glimpse of the Soldier's helmet, but when he hurries past the corner, there is nobody to be seen. They meet a little more regularly in the kitchen, with most of them conducting their morning routine as early as possible even despite the fact that they might as well get up at noon – it seems that old habits do indeed die hard. The Spy does not even try to conceal his obvious reluctance to talk to anyone of them for longer than absolutely necessary, so that it takes them all by surprise when by the arrival of Sniper's fourth morning at the base, the Spy enters the kitchen just when all of them have gathered around the table to consume whatever passes as breakfast to each.<p>

"Gentlemen? A word with you."

The word "hostile" doesn't quite summarize the diverse variety of negative emotions Spy has managed to evoke in his colleagues. Some bother to glance up briefly, others, like the Medic or Sniper himself, deliberately refuse to acknowledge the Frenchman's presence. "What", munches the Engineer into the heavy silence that follows Spy's words.

"It is about time we hold our first briefing. I suggest we meet two hours from now in the conference hall."

Again, nobody but the Engineer feels compelled to reply. "The team's not yet complete. What about Pyro?"

"We will address that matter, don't worry. Oh, and could somebody please locate the Soldier and inform him? It seems that he is rather insistent on isolating himself, but I'm sure he will listen to one of his friends."

Sniper is not entirely sure if the Spy is being serious or just his usual, sarcastic self. Either way, whoever is unlucky to be appointed this particular task will have a hard time convincing the Soldier of doing anything he doesn't explicitly want to do. The Spy doesn't bother to wait for an answer this time and is on his way out when the Medic rises from his seat.

"We should probably also discuss the fact that Respawn still isn't working."

Spy turns around and tilts his head ever so slightly. "It isn't?" His voice has a higher pitch than usual, though nothing else about him, his body language, suggests that he is surprised or even unsettled. Medic seems to be disappointed with this lack of reaction, but he catches himself quickly. "No. I hope you can offer some kind of solution to this problem, because I'm afraid neither me nor our Engineer have any idea left to try." The Texan nods in confirmation and shifts on his chair to face the Spy directly.

Spy pulls his gloves back into place and makes a small, affirmative noise. After he has left, the small group of men exchange glances, but a strange sense of expectation keeps them from speculating on the possible contents of their meeting.

In order to kill some time until the appointed hour, Sniper leaves the kitchen soon afterwards to go outside for some target practice. The environment is bare of anything that might function as a goal, so he takes his time setting up some of the dummy targets that have been around for longer than he has, stacked into a dusty corner of the supply wing. The task is satisfyingly time-consuming, so that by the time that he has finally settled down on the rooftop, he has less than an hour left until he needs to descend into the cool concrete heart of their base. As he hits his targets one by one, never buckling, never missing, he muses on some of the observations he has made throughout the last few years, long before he was even aware there was anything about RED that needed observing. They really are amazingly well-suited for the tasks they have been hired for. Sniper underlies no misconception as to his employability in anything that might resemble a normal job. The same, more or less, goes for his teammates, all of them lacking a socially acceptable personality and, with the possible exception of the Engineer, marketable skills. Sniper isn't too demanding with regard to medical treatment, but he is fairly certain that Doctors shouldn't behave the way their Medic does, particularly during battle. Scout would probably be in prison with a life sentence if he had been in Boston's streets for any longer, quite like the Demoman, whose mania for all things explosive technically requires some treatment, according to Medic. Then there's Sniper himself, with his total inability to relate to anyone beyond that small circle of men he has grown accustomed to and the accompanying capability of shutting out anything but the person unlucky enough to be caught in his sight. Really, the only exception from this pattern is the Engineer, who has a wife and a child he very much yearns to see again, as he occasionally says when it's late in the night and he's a little drunk. For the rest of them, RED really came as a savior from what would otherwise have been a completely wretched existence.

Sniper puts his gun down and looks through his binoculars to check the targets. All hit. Usually, he manages to dismiss this line of thought as greater paranoia than he should allow himself, but it's hard not to think that maybe it's a little strange that RED was looking for people just like them almost as much as they were looking for a working place like the one RED could offer. Each of them is so exceptionally good at his specific tasks, one would presumably be hard-pressed to find someone better, leave alone somebody who is also willing to accept the kind of working conditions they operate under (connection to a bizarre system that renders their efforts practically pointless on a daily basis, completely incomprehensible conflicts between ominous powers that be…).

Sniper exhales deeply and turns to the stairs leading into the basement. Being uncommonly well-adapted to the existence of an assassin is the least of his worries, no matter how strange the circumstances appear to be.

On his way downstairs, he is joined by the Engineer. As they cross the dormitory wing, both of them flinch when a strangled cry emerges from the direction of the doctor's office. Sniper reaches for his gun, but the Engineer raises his hand in a soothing gesture and shakes his head. "The Doc sent Heavy to go fetch the Soldier. They're probably injecting him some kind of sedative." The Australian snorts at the thought of the powerful Russian falling back into his normal role of the Medic's surgical nurse, intimidating sidekick and one-person auditorium and continues his way to the conference hall. None of them has ever been able to forge anything like a normal relationship with the Soldier, whose outright lunacy makes it difficult to lead a conversation that isn't held at the top of one's lungs.

"Well, Spy probably just wants us to be physically present, I guess", Sniper says. The Engineer doesn't react instantly, instead humming to himself absent-mindedly as they reach the narrow passage to the commando center. Sniper is all for comfortable silences between people who have known each other for a while, but with the Engineer, it's decidedly uncharacteristic. "You all right?"

"Yeah, sure. Sure", the Engineer replies hastily, ripped from whatever daydream got him carried away so easily. Sniper decides not to press the point, since they have arrived in front of the solid steel door leading to the appointed location.

Inside, the Spy has taken a seat at the head of the table, his face barely visible in the gloom of the basement. Only the small, warm glimmer of a cigarette casts a delicate patch of light on his closed eyes. He seems to be asleep, but the clearness of his eyes when he opens them looks nothing like the bleary-eyed confusion of a deep sleeper. Sniper sits down at the opposite end of the long, rectangle desk and stares down at his watch. Gradually, over the course of almost half an hour, the other team members drop in, first the Scout, who gives Sniper a friendly punch to the side and sits down next to him, then the monstrous procession of the Medic and the Heavy together with an unconscious Soldier. The Demoman takes his time and looks decidedly unhealthy when he finally does arrive, an empty expression on his face that suggests he has had either too much or not enough to drink.

Despite the enormous size of the room, the team has chosen to gather in one corner, as far as possible away from the Spy, who gets up from his chair with a small smile, almost as if amused by their collective rejection, and discards his cigarette on the floor. "So", he says slowly and moves around the table to close some of the distance between him and the others, "three things I would like to inform you about. First, I won't be here tomorrow. I understand that this may seem like an occasion for escape to you, but let me assure you that would be one of your more idiotic ideas. You may not be reconnected to the system yet, but the company has ways of keeping you inside. In case you feel like you need proof of that, I'd invite you to try and leave the area, but as I just said, Respawn isn't working yet, so you may want to take my words for granted and not get yourselves killed needlessly."

This warning is more or less unnecessary, at least as far as Sniper is concerned. He very much doubts that RED would make the same mistakes that led to their escape a second time. The Scout, in contrast, sneers at Spy's words, his usual imperturbable self-confidence evident on his at times almost childish features.

Spy casts a brief glance in the boy's direction and shakes his head ever so lightly, the motion a more serious warning than his previous threat. "My reason for departure would usually be none of your business, but since it is directly related to our team, I can tell you that we have managed to locate Pyro. It will not take long to retrieve him, though I will have to get in touch with the company as well to make sure somebody takes care of your technical difficulties", Spy continues with a thin, unpleasant smile in the Engineer's direction.

If he had been expecting an enthusiastic reaction, Spy must be quite heavily disappointed. It is not clear to Sniper what exactly motivates the incomprehensible shadow of a person that is the Spy to share this particular piece of information with them, but no matter what it may be, it is certainly not a matter of aiding the so-called team.

The Heavy shifts in his seat and leans forward to position his large arms on the wooden table. "Why are you telling us?" His deep voice resonates in the hall and while the Heavy is very well capable of sounding friendly at will, his current tone is nothing short of intimidating. The Spy, however, has only ever appeared intimidated at one memorable occasion that solely Sniper himself was around to witness and he will probably never again allow himself such a moment of weakness. "You all appeared to be somewhat upset to hear that Respawn is not working, so I thought you might want to know that the matter is being taken care of."

The Soldier makes a loud snort in his chemical-induced unconsciousness and Spy shoots him a contemptuous glare. "What did you do to him, anyway?"

"What it took to bring him here", the Medic replies flatly and shakes his head. The ensuing silence lies heavily on their minds, like the thick veil of a half-closed curtain, shielding them from the many things that should be asked but that are kept inside, for there would be no use in voicing them.

_The__ day afterwards, no battle took place. That in itself was no reason for suspicion, since the company occasionally granted them a day of rest after particularly intense periods of battle, but with his observations in mind, Sniper couldn't help but to feel a little unsettled. He had complied to the Spy's half-order not to tell anybody of what he had witnessed, even though he was very much tempted to do so in the light of the ominous silence of the BLU's base. When noon arrived and there was still no sign of life at the other end of the area, Sniper decided to look for Spy in order to clarify a few things. _

_While he had__ never particularly liked the Frenchman, indeed had barely been able to tolerate his obnoxious behavior, he had recently taken a weird, distant liking to the man, not so much because of any change in manners on Spy's behalf, but simply because he was as vital a team member as the rest of them were. The Spy did not habitually take part in any of their pleasantly mindless discussions on random issues, but he had nevertheless opened up remarkably, hovering on the periphery of really becoming a fellow team member. Bearing these developments in mind, Sniper really thought nothing of asking his colleague on what happened the day before. It took some time to locate him on the roof, which was the last place Sniper would have suspected Spy to be, given that the windy viewing platform was usually abandoned outside of battle except for occasional visits by Sniper and Demoman, who both enjoyed the isolation. _

"_Hey th__ere", Sniper called out with a cheery wave and approached the small, hunched figure sitting on the edge. Spy turned around briefly and nodded a greeting, not objecting to the uninvited company. He offered Sniper a cigarette when the Australian carefully lowered himself next to him. "Hey there", he echoed quietly. Sniper raised an eyebrow in surprise at the words that sounded so strange in the Spy's peculiar French lilt. _

"_What are you doing up here?" _

"_Nothing in particular, bushman. What are you doing here?" _

"_I've been looking for you, actually. Uh…about yesterday…d'you have any idea what was going on over there?" _

_Spy let the smoke seep from his mouth and watched it dissolve in the soft breeze that enveloped them. "Did you tell the others?"_

"_No."_

"_Really?" The Spy now turned to the side__ to look at him, incredulity written in his eyes. _

"_You said it wasn't important." _

"_I did", the Spy confirmed, not offering any further information._

"_Is he really dead?" Sniper wasn't quite sure why he felt__ so certain that the man next to him knew more about the incident than he did, but the sentiment was strong enough to pursue it even without a trace of evidence. _

"_Yes." The confirmation wa__s conducted in such a neutral, small voice that Sniper almost missed it. _

"_Why did they do that?"_

"_I'm not actually member of their team, my dear, as much as you and the others occasionally believe that to be the case. I don't know." _

"_Will they be getting, I don't know, a replacement or something? And how is it even possible that he's-"_

"_Look, I can't-" They both fell silent, waiting for the other to continue, but neither one said anything for a moment. Sniper was stunned at the sudden rawness of the Spy's voice and stared at the small visible part of his opposite's face. _

"_What can't you?" He attempted__ to ask in an upbeat manner, to suggest that he hadn't noticed the brief slip of countenance, but Spy's pained chuckle did nothing to help. _

"_All in due time. There is nothing to worry about. I have received orders-__" Yet again, Spy interrupted himself. He rose to his feet with caution and dusted off his slightly wrinkled suit. On second glance, it looked very much like he hadn't changed his attire since the day before. Sniper was painfully aware that he was not the ideal person to perform what was obviously a rather delicate inquiry, but he was determined to coax as much as possible from his unusually disheveled co-worker. He got up as well and grabbed the Spy's left arm just as the other man was about to leave. _

"_What orders? Nobody else has received anything. And when exactly-"_

"_No!" Spy ripped__ his arm away so rapidly that Sniper almost lost balance. "Just let me take care of this. Forget about it. In a few days, everything will go back to normal, there is no point in you dwelling on this. Forget about it." His tone of voice changed from aggressive to pleading in a fast and disturbing transition. Sniper let go of the sleeve he had managed to catch and watched the smaller man retreat from the roof in hurried steps for the second time in two days, feeling more befuddled than ever._

They don't need to make any kind of arrangement for meeting up the next day. When Sniper enters the kitchen early in the morning, the rest of the team is already assembled around it, some with a cup of coffee in their hands and looking rather crumpled, others clearly awake for hours already. Even the Soldier is leaning against the counter, helmet pulled into his face so deeply that it is impossible to make out anything besides his almost square chin.

"So, is he really gone?" The Scout looks from one to the other, radiating curiosity and excitement.

"I haven't seen him. That doesn't mean an awful lot, but I don't think he was lying about leaving for the day", the Engineer answers thoughtfully and gives the boy a disdainful, paternal look. "He certainly wasn't lying about the danger of escape, either."

Heavy nods in resignation, but the Scout raises his arms in his oh-come-on-now gesture. "What? We're just staying in? We did it once, we can do it again!"

The Demoman shakes his head. "Don't be stupid. That was something entirely different. Hell, I'm almost sure they allowed us to escape, though I don't know why they would do that."

Sniper pulls back the last chair and sits down next to the Medic, who is the only one with his back turned to the Soldier. His slightly uncomfortable posture doesn't vanish even when he enters the discussion. "Yes, that is something I have been thinking about as well. Certainly RED has devices to observe us? They must have known what was happening."

"Even if they weren't watching us, Spy sure told them everything that was going on", Sniper adds and receives a gracious nod from the German.

"Yeah, but – now what does that mean? I don't get how you can just sit here and say the same things over and over when we should really be figuring out how to get the hell out of here! Do we just wait until we get killed by Spy? You fucking saw it, didn't you? He shot the BLUs for no reason and he will do the same thing with us sooner or later, I swear – " Scout's voice is growing louder and louder, fear and confusion distorting his voice into a shriek. The boy must have been worried sick during the days he spent alone in the base, desperately waiting for anyone but Spy to show up, for someone who would come up with a magical solution to all of their problems. Now that they are almost complete, he is probably more than disappointed with their perceived lack of initiative.

The Soldier steps away from the counter, causing them all to stare at him warily. "There won't be any escaping this time, I can tell you that much, son. Won't allow that to happen." His exceptionally quiet voice, maybe still influenced by yesterday's unexpected medical treatment, does nothing to mitigate the threat of his words. Apparently having said all he wanted to say, the uniformed man leaves the room, off to whatever small corner of the base he has chosen as his personal headquarter of psychosis. The Medic must have been underestimating the degree of Soldier's trepidation.

"I want to go home", Scout insists quietly, shrinking back into the chair with an expression like an animal about to fall prey to the fangs of an invisible hunter.

It is easy to forget just how young the Scout really is. Despite all his street-smart, juvenile aggression, he has barely outgrown his childhood, no matter how tough a time that must have been. There is no point in being more considerate with him than usual, though. The Medic is scrutinizing the boy with distant interest, probably calculating how long it will take before they witness their first case of cabin fever, but the Heavy leans down to establish eye contact.

"Don't worry, little baby. Grown-ups are here to protect you."

Mockery is still the best way of distracting the Scout, whose head snaps up instantly, eyes glistening with fury. "Fuck you, fattie." The Russian barks a good-natured laugh, the low rumble echoing in the kitchen.

"I think we should focus on getting Spy to talk", says the Engineer, picking up the conversation from before Scout's small outburst. "Scout here is right. There is no point in asking ourselves the same questions again and again when there is just one person around who might be able to answer them."

The Demoman snorts. "Good luck with that."

"Well, if you can think of anything else, go ahead. I think our only option for now is to stay on our toes and find out what they want from us now that the BLU team is gone."

Sniper is inclined to agree, but even to him, that suggestion does not exactly seem like a sound strategy. He zones out mentally as the others continue to argue on an inevitable decision that isn't even fully theirs, musing on the brief moment of unveiled honesty they just had to witness. Going home…he can't even define the moment in which that expression lost all meaning. The pleasure of being back in Australia was one of the mind rather than an actual feeling, a detached sense of recognition, not the breathless relief of homecoming. The base doesn't quite feel like home either, but the colorless walls all around him provide a kind of numb peace of mind that his former home could not bring. He examines the others, one by one, and is almost certain that they feel the same.

_Sniper jerked his head up in confusion, reaching aimlessly for his weapon before he recognized the familiar face in front of him. _

"_We have to stay in again", the Scout proclaimed with a dramatic gesture. Sniper blinked heavily, groaning as he pushed himself off his cot. Scout, mistaking his exhausted noise for __indignation, began bouncing up and down slightly as he continued his pointless announcement. "I know, right? It sucks. Spy told us first thing this morning, does that guy ever sleep? Anyway, yeah, so just wanted to let you know." _

_Sniper reached for his glasses and cleared his voice. "You better get out of here right now. I'm serious. Now." Not without providing Sniper with some of his typical childish remarks, the Scout withdrew. Sniper inhaled deeply, briefly considered going back to sleep for just a little longer, but he ultimately cracked his shoulders and got up. After the first bout of anger at being awoken so needlessly had evaporated, Sniper considered the boy's words. Never before had RED allowed them more than one day of rest. Normally, he would have shrugged this off as a harmless and not entirely unpleasant development, but given the circumstances, it did nothing to dampen his suspicion. _

_Voices were emerging from the medical station. Sniper approached it, making sure that no French accent was to be heard before he entered the room. The Engineer stared down at a dismantled Medigun, brow furrowed in concentration, while the Medic hovered behind him, anxiously watching the other man's actions. _

"_Morning. Can I interrupt you for a moment?" Sniper lingered in the doorway uncertainly. Medic barked an impatient "No!" the same moment the Engineer lifted his head with a beaming, relieved grin. "Sure!"_

_Sniper closed the door behind him, once more checking the desolated hallway carefully. "Uh, so...I think I know why we're being kept inside." Now that Sniper had proven to be immune to his attempts at scaring him off,, the German turned to him with a hint of curiosity written on his stern features. "Well, do you remember two days ago after battle? You know, when we were on the rooftop", Sniper continued in the general direction of the Engineer, who answered with a bewildered nod. "They…" He tried to think of an adequate way to phrase this revelation, but his brain seemed temporarily blocked. "They killed their spy. I mean, for good." The ensuing silence was heavy with disbelief. _

"_That's impossible", said the Medic after a few moments of t__hought. He shook his head as if to underline his statement and stepped over the scattered gun parts, eyes never leaving Sniper's face. "Are you all right? You seem a little…"_

"_I'm fine." Sniper glared at the intrigued Doctor. "And I'm serious. I think they're waiting for a replacement. Shouldn't we maybe try to use that? With one man down, they wouldn't stand a chance." _

_Engineer raised his goggles above his head and gave Sniper a doubtful look. "We're not supposed to do anything unless we're told to. Why didn't you tell us right away?", he added. The answer to that question, Sniper felt, was rather difficult to give, considering his own considerable confusion and reluctance to take the Spy's words for granted. He had initially decided to wait if things somehow cleared up by themselves, which they didn't and, as far as he could tell, weren't about to at any rate. With the second day without a sign of life from the BLU base on its way, he could well recognize the possible mistake he had made. "I'm telling you now", he answered a bit lamely. "But…has anybody seen Spy? Our Spy, I mean? Cos he told me not to tell you, so I figured he might…I don't know. Know stuff we don't." _

_The Spy's penchant for dramatic entries had always been one of his more ridiculous and annoying traits, at least in Sniper's view. All potential absurdity notwithstanding, they all startled heavily when the in the far corner of the room, the __dainty man materialized without a warning. "I'm amazed you were able to keep your mouth shut this far", he remarked and approached the group predatorily. "It must have been quite a feat for you. Oh well. Now that you've broken the news…", he trailed off, swaying over to the door in an almost meditative fashion. "The company has given out some clear orders. You are to stay inside. Leave the strategic calculations to someone who actually knows how to make them." _

"_What? You giving us orders now?" The Engineer snorted loudly. Sniper attempted to establish eye contact with the Spy, eager to understand what was going on in the mind of someone with what was either additional know__ledge or incurable mood swings, but the other man avoided him clearly._

"_Whatever it takes to keep you here." _

It's late in the night and Sniper has been lying awake for hours. He is well past that frantic stage where the mind tries to order the body to sleep and has settled for staring at the ceiling for as long as it takes. Gradually, he realizes just how thirsty he is. Sniper gets up, cracks his shoulders and leaves his room quietly, careful not to wake anyone up. He enters the kitchen, fills a glass with water and drinks it slowly. Only when is absolutely sure that he isn't hallucinating does he turn around to face the stranger sitting on Sniper's usual place. "Uhm", Sniper croaks.

"Hello, Sniper."

"Who the hell are you?" Sniper looks around, scanning the room for a weapon more intimidating than a butter knife.

"It's me", says the young man, confusion giving his statement a questioning lilt. He is a few years older than Scout at most, looks vaguely Asian.

"Who?"

"Pyro", the man answers with a small laugh. "Don't you remember me?"

Sniper approaches carefully to get a better look on the boy's face. He has seen the lower half of Pyro's face on several occasions and remembers the sound of his voice rather well. Both suggested a far older man than the one currently sitting in front of him. "Where's your mask?"

"We're not in battle, are we? I…I don't wear it…in here, right? I think…", the boy says. He looks like it takes him a monumental effort to talk. He looks disturbed.

"You used to wear it all the time."

"I…yeah, that sounds right. That's what I did."

Sniper eyes the Pyro warily and wonders if he should fetch the Medic. Of course, he can't be fully sure that this really isn't their Pyro, it's late in the night and he has insomnia and it's been a while since he last saw or heard him, but this still seems very off.

"Spy brought you here?"

"Yes. He told me to go to bed", the Pyro adds after a second of hesitation. "I'll do that now."

"You do that", Sniper echoes and watches him disappear in the dark hallway.

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><p>I have never had such an enormous amount of PLOT to fit into my writings before :DD<p>

Anyway, big time story progress coming up next chapter, seriously. I think.

Also, I'm kind-of-maybe looking for a beta reader, because I'm getting a little tired of realizing in the middle of the night that _Wait, whoops, that doesn't make sense argh plot hole and can I even use that word in that context aaah. _


	4. Chapter 4

A two-digit number of reviews! And an even larger number of silent favs/alerts - I AM THRILLED. Yeah, so this took a little longer than anticipated. There's not as much plot progression as I initially intended either, BUT I will do better next time! Also, I have found a glorious beta reader who has graciously removed the most glaring errors for your enjoyment.

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><p>"There's somebody in the BLU base."<p>

"What?"

"I said there's somebody in the BLU base!"

"Who?" Sniper glances up briefly, caught up in the task of rendering his rifle immaculately clean.

"Aw, come on! I don't know, someone! I heard some voices, that is all." Scout huffs in frustration and kicks Sniper's shin sharply. "Let's check this out."

Sniper sets his weapon down slowly, with exaggerated care, and smirks at the boy's barely concealed frustration. "You sure you weren't imagining things?"

"Are you…" Scout has gone slightly red with suppressed anger and has to gasp for air before he continues. "Are you shitting me? I just ran all the way back here to tell you!"

Sniper decides to be nice and drops his act of incredulity before Scout actually blows his top. Spy may have gotten Respawn back on track, but Sniper certainly doesn't feel like undergoing the unpleasant procedure without a solid reason. "I didn't see anyone coming. How many do you think were there?"

"Jesus, I don't know. I heard maybe three voices, but for all I know there might have been more. Do you think they've sent in a new team?" Scout is practically vibrating with adrenaline at this unexpected discovery. It's his fourth week at the base without any sign of a battle, or even anything resembling a purpose on the horizon, so his question sounds hopeful rather than upset. He is, Sniper suspects, yearning for a distraction from his fears relating their own company, so much so that he is very much willing to get back to work, whatever that may be.

"I'm not sure. Spy didn't say anything like that." Not that Spy has been saying anything much. He has barely talked to anyone after he returned together with their supposed Pyro, just once deigning to let them know that yes, this is Pyro, no problem there. The team's reaction to this statement ranged from resigned doubt to outright indignation at this supposed truth.

The man in question has done little to dispel their doubts; his behavior remains highly suspicious and atypical. To call Pyro weird would be to partake in a gross understatement – his vague, uncertain references to their common past, his obvious ignorance of the most commonplace knowledge, even his almost childlike language, everything about him sets Sniper off. Medic has been very intent on getting the man inside his office, but has been unsuccessful so far. Spy, in a decidedly unsubtle maneuver, has done all he can to keep the Pyro out of the Doctor's reach, thus basically admitting that something is wrong with him.

Scout rolls his eyes. "'Course he didn't." He grabs Sniper's arm and pulls him up. "Let's go!" Sniper wrestles his arm free from Scout's grasp, but he nods somberly and trots behind the boy. The hallway is empty. Most of the doors stand open, allowing some of the noon sun to flow through and give the bleak linoleum floor an almost pleasant shine. Just as they are about to enter the staircase, though, a high voice in their backs makes them both flinch. "Hey! Where are you going?"

"Oh, hell no", mutters Scout under his breath and shoots the advancing Pyro a nasty look. "None of your concern, you moron. Go back to your room."

Pyro's eyes widen and take on a hurt expression. None of them have been particularly nice or patient with the boy, but Scout has developed a spontaneous hatred of him, even though he seems to be more or less harmless, all incongruities notwithstanding. "Can I come with you? I'm lonely in my room", Pyro says to Sniper with a small, hopeful smile.

Sniper glances down at Scout and shrugs. "Yeah, why not." Ignoring Scout's murderous glare, he opens the door and begins to descend the stairs without another look back. At times, something about Pyro feels awfully familiar, like the way he moves or the tilt of his voice when he is surprised. Other times…this isn't Pyro. Can't be. He's too young, he's too stupid, he's too weird. RED probably got him out of an asylum for pyromaniacs, which would at least explain the weirdness. None of the possible explanations explain the uncanny similarities to the old Pyro, though. Said similarities are the only reason for why there is a silent, albeit distrustful acceptance of the boy's presence, but Sniper occasionally feels a vague impulse to observe him more closely, in the distant hope of recognizing something else about him.

"I wonder if they changed something about the team", says Scout after a while. Sniper casts a questioning glance over his shoulder. "I mean, maybe they have a new strategy or something. One that prevents them from getting killed.

Pyro laughs. Sniper and Scout exchange exasperated looks and continue their conversation over his hysterical snort. "Well, something like that I suppose. BLU would be stupid to let the same thing happen again."

"Yeah. Hey", Scout quips after a brief moment of hesitation, "Pyro, you remember what happened with BLU?" If this is an attempt to lure Pyro into admitting to being a new team member, it's certainly not very subtle.

"I…yes", Pyro begins slowly, stopping in the middle of the stairs as if too preoccupied with the task of remembering. "There were…technical difficulties."

Stepping out into the open, Sniper lowers his shades against the painfully bright gleam of the sun and waits for the other two to follow him. The haunting echo of the Spy's default lie makes him feel slightly sick. He is so tired of it, of the half-truths and the riddles and –

And there is no use in despairing over any of it. Sniper inhales deeply and holds his breath for as long as it takes for him to stop that panicking trail of thought. He is glad to hear Scout and Pyro emerge from the base behind him, grateful for the distraction.

"Hey, so I thought you keep an eye on the base and I go find out what's going on over there", says Scout nonchalantly and twirls his bat in anticipation. "And Pyro here can go back inside." Sniper examines the BLU base from the distance and shakes his head, then turns to face the Scout. "Forget about it, I'm coming with you."

"Yeah, right. Because you're so sneaky." Scout snorts.

"Fuck sneaky, what about smart? If that's really a new team over there, they won't be happy to see y-"

"They wouldn't see me. I'm too fast."

Sniper rolls his eyes. Talking the Scout out of any particularly moronic ideas is never easy, but with the enormous amount of pent-up energy that currently clouds his mind, it seems near impossible. "Last time you went over there to _just check out what's going on _it didn't do anyone any good", he answers. It's not very fair to say something like that, but it effectively shuts the boy up. Pyro looks from one to the other in confusion.

* * *

><p><em>By the evening of the third day without combat, the confusion and frustration was <em>_tangible. Sniper had told the rest of the team about his observation without further objections from the Spy, who had taken to keeping an eye on the exits. Aimless suspicion seemed to hover in the air. Medic and Engineer had become the leading advocates of the it's-all-an-elaborate-trick-thesis, which did little to soothe the nerves of those without any idea as to what might have happened. Spy apparently adhered to their belief, given the severity with which he monitored the team's presence. Sniper himself just wanted out, with the dull grey of his room growing more oppressive by the hour. There had to be something he could do to end this ridiculous limbo. From out of his window, the BLU base looked alluringly calm. Sniper was well aware that Scout was just waiting for someone to agree with him that somebody should examine the base more closely, no matter what the headquarters had supposedly ordered. Feeling only half-guilty, Sniper left his room to search for the boy. He passed the kitchen, where Pyro and Demoman were playing cards in amiable silence, stopping briefly to ask if either one had seen Scout. Pyro answered with an apologetic grumble and a shake of his masked head, but Demoman nodded and pointed downstairs. _

_Upon entering the basement, it took Sniper barely a minute to locate the swearing Scout. He entered quietly, making sure not to interrupt Scout in his task of prying open one of the __air vent entries. "You may want to be a bit more quiet down here", he finally said after watching the boy's fruitless struggle for a while. _

_Scout whirled around. "What the- Aw, hell. You're not __going to tell anyone, are you? I just want to take a quick look!" Sniper shrugged vaguely and approached the steel cover that kept Scout inside . "You can get out of there?" _

"_Sure! Except, you know__…" Scout motioned toward the grill. "You can't open it." Sniper examined the situation for a moment, then reached for Scout's bat, which had been cast aside carelessly. Inserting the narrow end into the small gap Scout had managed to create with his bare hands, it took Sniper little force to open the grid a mournful screech, the grill twisted to the side, allowing Sniper to get a firm grasp n it and wrench it out. _

"_I could have done that," remarked the Scout almost instantly and __crawled into the narrow opening, turning around briefly to grin at Sniper. "Hey, thanks man. I'll be back in a couple of minutes, just don't tell Spy or something." With that, he scrambled off, the loud echo of his movements gradually ebbing away._

_Sniper decided to wait downstairs where the Scout was bound to re-enter the building, eager to hear what the Scout might be able to report. Above him, he could make out the sound of agitated shouting, but that in itself was no reason for concern. Maybe somebody had touched Heavy's gun. Only when there were rapid steps on the stairs did Sniper snap from his trance and leave the room, closing the door as quietly as possible before he turned around the corner with what he hoped to be a clueless expression on his face. _

_Spy looked positively __livid. He stared at Sniper with barely concealed rage and rushed past him, grabbing his arm to pull him back into the room from which Scout had made his escape. He took one look at the dislocated grill and then turned his head to Sniper so rapidly it made a small, cracking sound. "Tell me, because I'd be most curious to hear, are you nothing but stupid? Are you really such an incredible moron?" He interrupted himself briefly, attempting to even his rapid_ _breathing. "RED does not want us outside. Did you put him up to this?" _

"_Even if I did, so what? What's the problem? He's just going to look what's going on, RED won't mind. Who cares?" Sniper raised his arms helplessly. "Look, you're the only one who thinks we should stay inside. How do you even want to know__ something's going to happen?" _

_Spy ignored him and stepped to the window to peer outside. "I have been working for the company longer than you have, you know that. Is it really so hard for you to follow such easy orders?" _

"_If they don't make any sense, yes." _

_Spy exhaled loudly and glanced back at Sniper. "If something happens to him over there, it's your fault."_

"_What on earth __could- You know what, I'm leaving. This is ridiculous."_

* * *

><p>They cross the area carefully, not daring to make any noise. Scout is impressively quiet, his adrenaline apparently transforming into full concentration. If Sniper wasn't fully convinced before that there really is someone in the other base, he sure is now, in the face of Scout's complete focus. In the shadow of the scattered buildings, they make it towards the main building without encountering any sign of life. Finally, when they both reach the southern wall, Scout leans forward to point to the series of windows above their heads. Sniper is glad they left Pyro behind. In his current state, he is not exactly cut out for sneaking missions.<p>

Sniper turns around to face the wall and rises ever so slowly, careful not to move above a critical line. The windows are shut and no noise emerges through them, but there really is someone at the other side of the room, holding something like a plan in their hands. With the sun reflecting blindingly in the glass, it is impossible to recognize anything beyond shapes and movement. Scout can't escape his nature far enough to keep from making a small "Told you so" and then touches Sniper's right shoulder to indicate him to get moving. Sniper draws a shallow breath to ask him if that really is a good idea, but the boy has already started to move around the base, apparently in order to check the other rooms, or maybe to get a closer look at the person inside the BLU quarters. Sniper hurries after him with as much crouching as his back allows.

The other rooms appear to be empty, but they are cautious nonetheless as they rush around the base. Once they approach the other side, Sniper slows down to adjust his speed to the sneaking Scout, who is about to move beneath the window where whoever is inside must be standing. Sniper decides to leave some distance and gestures wildly to gain the boy's attention. "Now what", he mouths. He thinks that surely the Scout does not intend to just get up and say hello, but that seems to be exactly what he has in mind. The second he gets up, Sniper lurches forward to pull him back down, but Scout evades his grasp and nods to the window. Peering over the lower sill of the window, Sniper can now clearly make out the shape of a BLU Medic and Pyro by the far wall of the room, absorbed in a conversation. The small scene before him appears awfully familiar, to a degree where just looking at the two silhouettes at the other side of the room makes Sniper feel slightly dizzy. He lowers himself back to the ground and urgently tries to recall the exact appearance of the old team as Scout kneels beside him.

"Wha-", the boy begins, but Sniper shakes his head and points towards their own base. Scout nods wordlessly and takes the lead. As soon as they are out of sight, they begin to run at full speed, both spurred by an aimless desire to escape.

When they are directly in front of the side entrance from which they left off, Sniper slows down to catch his breath. "We both just saw the same thing, right?"

"Uhm", answers Scout intelligently and stares ahead idly. "I mean. They…They kind of looked like the old BLUs, didn't they? Except they're, you know. Dead."

Sniper feels a sharp jab of yearning for the outside world, for a life without any of this monstrous strangeness. He clears his voice to get rid of the strangled noise building up in his throat and tilts his head towards the RED base. "We shouldn't be standing out in the open like this."

"Fuuuck", says Scout to nobody in particular and follows Sniper into the chilly hallway.

Pyro is waiting for them like an obedient puppy, emerging from his room as soon as he hears their footsteps on the ground. "So? What happened?" Scout pushes past Sniper, apparently to give Pyro a thumping for his admittedly frustrating excitement, but he is stopped in his tracks. Spy appears at the other end of the hallway, with his head crooked to the side in a creepy mimicry of curiosity.

"Well? What happened?" Spy repeats the words with a slightly mocking note. Pyro's eyes flicker over to the advancing Frenchman and back to Sniper and Scout with a hint of guilt. The boy may be weird and possibly dense, but he is smart enough to sense that Spy isn't exactly the most benevolent person around.

"None of your business", snarls Scout. Spy ignores him and turns to Sniper with an expectant expression.

"BLU sent in a new team", Sniper says after a brief moment of consideration. There is no point in trying to keep this hidden from Spy, especially considering that he probably already knows. True to his nature, Spy nods, completely unfazed. "It's about time, wouldn't you say so? We'll be sent on our first mission tomorrow."

"What? How do you know?" Scout interjects, his mood considerably brightened by Spy's announcement.

"The wonders of modern technology, Scout", Spy says with a ridiculing wink. "It's marvelous what some people can do with a few wires and screws." Sniper can't help but to wonder yet again why Spy seems unable to maintain a clear line in interaction with the team. "Soldier would like to see us all to, ah, outline our strategy. I believe it will be something along the lines of the same as usual, but perhaps we should do him the favor." Spy is in a good mood, obviously. He seems positively aglow with energy and that sense of amused superiority that drives Sniper up the wall. More interestingly, he seems to have one of his sociable moments, which used to be somewhat odd in the past and are now nothing short of unsettling. Definitely unfitting, to say the least.

"What, the company didn't tell you what we should do?" Scout snorts. "They only call you when the shit really hits the fan, huh?"

"If that's what you want to call it", answers the Spy with a hint of steel in his voice.

"So you wouldn't happen to know why the new BLUs kind of look like the ones you killed", says Scout. The microsecond of hesitation in Spy's eyes is barely noticeable, but it is sufficiently out of character for Sniper to notice.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Spy inquires.

"What do you think it means? Come on, are you fucking with us or what? I know these people, I've seen them dead. Except they're right over there." Scout gestures in the general direction of the BLU base. "But oh well, I was probably imagining things, right? Those are technical difficulties," Scout goes on in an exaggerated imitation of Spy's accent. "Fuck this." The boy waves lopsidedly at Sniper and walks down the corridor, but not without bumping forcefully into Pyro's shoulder.

Spy turns to Sniper with a perfectly neutral expression. "What do you think you saw?"

Sniper shrugs. As usual, the images he struggles the hardest to retain, to summon before his eyes, evade him the fastest. Right then, yes, they looked like the old BLU team, right? Except their faces were kind of obscured by the bad light and he only saw them from the distance for a few seconds and it probably was just a strange sort of imagined déjà-vu… "A BLU team. I don't know. I didn't really get a clear look and honestly, neither did Scout." Spy nods, apparently satisfied with this answer. Sniper turns to go, but Spy stops him. "Sniper…we only do what we're hired to do. You understand that, don't you? That one must follow one's obligations?"

Sniper raises his eyebrows and nods slowly. "I guess."

"I…don't mean anyone here any harm. I know you don't believe me, but it's true. I obey orders just like the rest of you. Well, just like you are supposed to, anyway." Sniper recalls Engineer's suggestion of pressing the Spy for information, but just when he opens his mouth to ask the Frenchman what exactly his orders _are, _Spy gives him a small smile and shrugs slightly. "Well, I'll see you later, then."

"What the hell was that all about!" Sniper calls after him, but Spy doesn't turn around.

* * *

><p>I have been asked why I'm not including the accents, which appears to be a bit of a custom around here. Three reasons:<p>

I'm still not a native speaker and I feel that any attempt at imitating native accents would be doomed from the start.

German and French accents just don't sound like that. I get that the accent most people transcribe is the in-game accent, but this story is not exactly a canon recreation in the first place, you know.

MOST IMPORTANTLY: There's a plot explanation for it. No, seriously. JUST WAIT AND SEE


End file.
